3 days
by itinerarymango
Summary: MerMark. Meredith catches Mark cheating and flees. Suprises later. I know this has been done before, but the format was stuck in my head, so I had to write it. T for slight language.
1. 3 days

**3 days. **

That was the last time Meredith saw him. It was 3 days ago that Meredith had walked out the door. She looked at the rearview mirror, looking back at the little boy sleeping in the seat. His dirty blond hair stuck up in awkward angles, a result of the various positions he had slept in the car seat. She sighed as she drove to the familiar hospital, pulling into a parking space. She unbuckled the boy from his car seat and placed him on her hip. He opened his eyes when the movement jarred him awake. "Mommy?" he asked looking into her eyes.

"Yes baby, it's just me," his pale blue, almost grey eyes, made her heart drop. They reminded her so much of his father's.

She walked through the doors of Seattle Grace Hospital and immediately ran into a familiar face.

"Meredith?" she heard from behind her. Turning she found herself face to face with Derek Shepherd.

"Meredith, what are you doing here, where's Mark?" he asked her.

Tears began to slide down her face as she explained, "New York, I left him; I caught him with another woman."

Derek pulled her into a hug thinking, to himself, _why was his best friend such an ass_. Meredith suddenly stood up straight and wiped the tears from her face.

"I have a meeting with Chief Webber," she said "I better get going."

Derek watched her walk down the hall in stunned silence, then, his phone began to ring, pulling him from his trance. He answered it without looking to see who it was.

"Derek Shepherd," he said quickly.

"Is she there?" he heard from the other end.

"Mark? You're an ass," he said bluntly.

"Shep is she there?" he heard back an obvious pleading in the asker's voice.

Derek nodded then realizing that he couldn't see him let out an exasperated "Yes."

"I swear it isn't what it looked like Derek, I would never do that to Mer," he pleaded.

"Why are you trying to convince me of that?" Derek replied harshly before saying he was needed and hanging up the phone.

Meanwhile Meredith sat in the chief's office waiting for him. She watched the boy run a toy car along the seat cushion while quiet whispers of "zoom, zoom" left his lips. When the chief entered he had to do a double take, she looked so different, yet was exactly the same. "Meredith?" he said quietly.

She turned at the sound of her name and smiled at him. "Hello Richard," she said back.

He walked around the desk to his chair and placed himself in it.

"Oh my," he gasped "this is not Asher is it?"

She nodded her head and said "he is getting big, almost 3 years old."

After that the conversation moved to the actual reason she was there, she wanted a job. Luckily, one was available so she was set to start in two days. After their conversation she left the hospital and headed to her mother's old house.


	2. 5 days

**5 days.**

Meredith woke and looked at the clock on the table beside her. The red numbers blinked back at her 5:00 AM. She pulled herself out of the bed carefully as not to wake Asher and walked to the bathroom to shower. As she stood at the sink drying her hair, she suddenly lurched toward the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach into the bowl. After the nausea had passed she stood back up, playing it off as nerves on the first day of her new job. After getting herself ready, she got Asher ready and they got in the car in route to the hospital. At the hospital, she dropped Asher off at the daycare and ran to the locker room to get her scrubs on and reported to Dr. Bailey.

"You must be Dr. Sloan," Bailey said irritated.

"Yes, but call me Dr. Grey," she corrected her hastily.

"You are on Shepherd's service today," Bailey told her before walking off.

Meredith walked the familiar halls to Neurology and found Derek by the nurse's station. She walked to him saying "did you plan this?"

"No," he said flatly but the grin on his face gave him away. Continuing he said, "Mrs. Kline in room 212 is your responsibility today, she just had tumor removed, but she has been having a hard time recovering, monitor her today."

Meredith nodded and walked off to the room, with the chart clutched in her hand.

When lunchtime came along, she had thrown up three more times, but continued to put it off as nerves. She went to pick up Asher, so that she could eat lunch with him, and Derek shortly joined them. When Asher saw Derek he stood up in his seat and yelled "Unka Shep."

Derek sat down and regarded the boy bemusedly. "I didn't get that reaction two days ago," he said.

"Sleepin' Unka Shep," the boy laughed. Suddenly the boy stopped laughing "Where's Daddy?" he questioned.

Meredith immediately spoke up "remember buddy, daddy is in New York still, he did something not nice."

The boy seemed to be thinking then went back to his lunch without another word, evidently accepting the answer. Meredith jumped up suddenly, sprinting to the bathroom and once again expelling the contents of her stomach. When she finished she lay back against the door of the stall and all of a sudden it hit her. Her period was supposed to come seven days ago. She knew why she was throwing up.

When she entered the cafeteria she walked to the table and grabbed Asher. "Are you okay?" Derek asked.

She nodded before turning around and leaving the cafeteria. After dropping off Asher back at the daycare she went back to work, the realization she had had running continuously through her head. When she finally was able to leave the hospital, she immediately went and bought a pregnancy test. After putting Asher to bed she went into the bathroom to take it, waiting in agony for the necessary five minutes. Looking at the stick she gasped reading the word written there "pregnant."


	3. 2 weeks

**2 weeks. **

When she walked into the hospital she immediately bumped into Derek. "How is my little niece or nephew today?" he asked, a smile on his lips.

Meredith just smiled back, grateful that Derek was being so thoughtful since she had not yet told Mark.

A little while later, she was walking down the hall when she saw him. Well, she actually heard him before she saw him. She heard the deep voice that made goosebumps pop up on her skin. Looking around she saw him at the nurse's station, talking to a giggling nurse. She ducked behind a pillar, watching him but not wanting to talk to him. When Derek came up behind her and followed her gaze he gasped. "When did he get here?" Derek asked.

"I don't know," she hissed back.

Derek walked around her making a beeline for the nurse's station. "What do you want Mark?" Derek said forcefully.

"I want this nurse to page my wife," he said back harshly.

"You are an even bigger ass then I thought if you want to do this here," Derek yelled back.

All of a sudden, something broke in Mark and he began to cry. "I haven't slept in two weeks Derek, I can't sleep without her by me, I love her and Asher so much, but I don't know how to fix it this time."

Derek took pity on his broken friend speaking softly he said "I will try to get her to call you, but you are not going to do this here."

"Shep, I want to see Asher," Mark added "it's been two weeks since I last saw my son I can't deal with it anymore."

Derek nodded throwing out a half-hearted "I'll try."

Mark nodded disappointedly walking out the doors.

Derek watched him walk way, waiting until he was absolutely sure he was gone before he approached Meredith. "He misses you and Asher," Derek said quietly, adding "he really wants to see him."

Meredith heard him, but didn't respond.

"I told him I would try to get you to call him Mer, you are going to have to talk eventually, especially with the baby," he pleaded.

Once again Meredith just nodded, but then she said something so quietly it almost wasn't understandable. "He was with my best friend."


	4. 1 month

**1 month.**

Meredith walked to the front door. She knew who it was so she just threw the door open. Asher came running in, his arm clutched tightly around a new dump truck. Mark stood at the door, shifting his weight from foot to foot and looking at the ground. Despite the fact that Meredith was letting him see Asher they had yet to have a civilized conversation. "Thanks for bringing him back," she said grabbing the door to slam it shut.

He caught the door and looked into her eyes saying "Mer, can we talk?"

She resisted the urge to melt because of his look and stated back coldly, "I am not doing this with Asher here."

Mark shook his head in agreement, but his eyes went back to the floor. Meredith couldn't believe she had said it until it was out "why don't you come by tomorrow after I get off work, I will get Derek to watch him."

She watched as his head snapped back up and he nodded his head vigorously before turning to leave.

The next day after she got off work, she walked into Derek's office, "are you sure you can watch him tonight?" she questioned hoping he would say no. No such luck. He practically pushed her out the door.

When she got back to the house she called Mark to let him know she was there and then waited for him. She had almost started to doze off when he knocked on the door letting him in she lead the way to living room and sat in a chair while he occupied the couch. A silence fell neither one of them knowing what to say. Finally Mark spoke "Mer, I miss you and I don't want to lose you."

"You should have thought of that before you took a shower with my best friend," she said sharply, adding more quietly "but I guess I should have known this would happen when I married the resident manwhore."

Mark looked at her before he spoke again, standing up and beginning to pace in front of the couch "I swear, it wasn't what it looked like, I got there, and you remember Asher wasn't feeling well so Jaime was watching him that day, I asked her to stay while I took a shower so that if he woke up someone would be there and then right before I got out of the shower she got in with me, I thought it was you and turned around and that is when you walked in."

"Mark, I just don't think I should believe you, I don't have any reason to," she said back softer than when she spoke before.

"Mer I have never been unfaithful to you, not even when we were dating," he spoke quietly "I love you." He spoke again as tears began to spill from his eyes "I got a job as head of plastics at Seattle Grace, I want you back, but even if you don't want me I am going to be here for my son."

Tears were falling down Meredith's face too at this point, but she managed to gasp out "Mark, I'm three months pregnant."


	5. 3 months

**3 months.**

Meredith walked into the doctor's office and went to the window to sign-in. She was supposed to find out the sex of the baby today, and Mark was supposed to be here. He hadn't yet arrived when the doctor called her name, but she went back anyway unwilling to wait for him. As the doctor was asking her questions about how she was feeling the door burst open. Mark stood there gasping for air as he clutched his side, sorry there was an emergency in the ER and I couldn't get away until now. He was still wearing his scrubs and Meredith couldn't help the thrill she felt when he pulled the top up to wipe his forehead, exposing his muscular abdomen. He sat down beside her and watched as the doctor squirted the gel on her stomach and a picture popped up on the screen.

"This is the baby's face," the doctor said pausing as a profile popped up on the screen. "And you wanted to know the sex?" she questioned.

Mark looked at Meredith before he said "Yes."

"Well, it looks like it is…a little girl!" she exclaimed.

Mark grabbed Meredith's hand and placed a kiss to her fingers, surprised when Meredith didn't pull her hand away. The truth was that her head was telling her to, but her heart wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him. His touch still warmed her body, and made her heart flutter.

After the appointment, Mark walked Meredith out to her car. "So, I guess we should start thinking of a name for the baby," he said.

"Yeah," Meredith said as she bent down and scooted into the driver's seat.

"We need to buy a crib, and get the nursery ready to go," he added "and I still haven't even told Mama Shepherd, she will probably want to be here."

Meredith just nodded once again, avoiding his gaze.

Mark bent down resting his arm on the top of the car and peering into her eyes and said "I am not giving up on this." With that he bent further and placed a kiss on her cheek before walking back into the hospital.

After he had walked back into the hospital, Meredith placed her hand to her cheek. She gasped out the word "wow" as her cheek still crackled with electricity. She thought to herself _I still love the bastard, I want to be with him again._


	6. 4 months

**4 months.**

"Adrian?" Meredith asked.

"I don't really want another 'A' name," Mark replied "what about Sarah?"

"Everybody and their dog is named Sarah, I want something unique," she answered back "but not weird," she added.

"I like Tate," he replied.

"That is what I mean by weird…why is this so hard, Asher Jacob Sloan was so easy to come up with," she said starting to get frustrated. She threw the baby name book at the couch and got up to get a glass of water. Mark picked the book up flipping through the pages until one name caught his eye.

"I got it!" he called out excitedly.

She walked into the room and fell back onto the couch, looking where he was pointing in the book.

"Quinn Carolyn Sloan," he said excitedly.

She said the name seeing how it felt in her mouth. When she smiled, he let out a chuckle before bending down and talking to her stomach, "hello Quinn, I'm your daddy and I love you very much."

She gazed down at him lovingly as he talked to their daughter. He looked up at her and soon their faces were centimeters apart and his head tilted. A shock went through her body as his lips met hers and she found herself melting into him. A knock at the door broke them out of the moment. Mark groaned, but went to the door letting a squealing Asher into the apartment. "Geez Shep, what did you do pump him with sugar?" he asked Derek.

"Honestly, pretty much," he answered a smile on his face.

Mark shut the door after Derek got in his car and returned to the couch. He looked at Meredith who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Mark," she whispered "I don't know how I feel about what just happened."

He looked at her crashing from the high he had just been feeling.

"I think you should go, I need to think," she stated pointedly.

He nodded his head and got up off the couch, walking toward the entrance to the living room he turned. "For the record," he began "I don't regret what happened, I love you, all three of you."


	7. 5 months

**5 months.**

"I'm sorry," the doctor said, "there were complications, you lost the baby."

Meredith couldn't breathe; the walls were closing in on her. She desperately tried to fill her lungs, but she couldn't.

She awoke gasping for breath. The sheets twisted around her and the t-shirt she wore to bed soaked with sweat. As soon as she realized where she was she began to cry hysterically. Picking up her phone she dialed the first number that came to her mind.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice answered.

"Mark, I need you," she gasped out between sobs.

Not even ten minutes later he was running into her bedroom, after letting himself in with the hide-a-key. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered into her ear "shhh…baby I'm here now, what happened?"

She told him about her dream, and he held her until she calmed down. Laying her back on the bed he turned to leave, but she grabbed his wrist. "Stay here with me," she begged.

Seeing the fear in her eyes he crawled into the bed next to her and they both fell asleep.

The next morning Meredith woke up and turned to face Mark. He lay fully dressed on top of the covers, one arm thrown around her waist and the other arm under her pillow. Sensing her starring, he opened his eyes. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Mark," she began "I need to tell you something."

He sat up with his back against the headboard and listened intently.

"I still love you, I keep trying to convince myself that I don't but its not true, I still don't know if I believe what you say happened, but I need you, I want to wake up next to you again and I want to sit on the couch with your arms wrapped around me, I don't know what made me see this, but I miss us," she said.

He sat there for what seemed like forever before turning toward her. "I love you too, and I am so glad you said all that because it is exactly what I have been feeling since the day you left New York."

He leaned over to plant a kiss to her lips and scooted back into the bed pulling her tight against him, breathing her in and feeling the way their bodies just fit together like a puzzle. They stayed that way for awhile until Asher walked into the room rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Daddy?" he questioned confused.

"Yeah buddy?" he questioned back.

Hearing that it was in fact his father he ran and jumped on the bed snuggling between his mother and father.

"Are we happy now?" Asher asked.

Mark looked over at Meredith and smiled.

She answered "Yeah buddy, I think we are getting that way."


	8. 7 months

**7 months.**

Mark ran into the hospital carrying Asher in his arms. When he got to the nurse's station in the delivery wing of the hospital he stopped. "Where is my wife?" he questioned urgently.

The nurse told him the room number and he sprinted toward it. Running inside he saw Meredith in the bed and put Asher down quickly grabbing her hand as she fought through another contraction.

"Baby, I'm here," Mark repeated over and over as she squeezed his hand in desperation.

Asher seemingly scared by his parent's activities backed into the corner and began to sniffle quietly. Once the contraction was over Meredith called him to her and rubbed his back soothingly. "It's okay buddy, mommy is okay, the baby is just ready to come out of mommy's tummy now," she explained to him.

Mark called Derek and asked him to come get Asher while they waited for the baby and he came to get him soon after that. "Mom is walking around the hospital somewhere, have you called her yet?" Derek asked.

"No," Mark answered, "I didn't even think about it, can you call her and tell her the room number and she can watch Asher if you need to go back to work."

Another contraction came and Derek left as Mark once again tried to comfort his wife.

It seemed like forever before the doctor told Meredith she could push, but when she finally could she began to scream at Mark. "You did this to me, we are never having sex again," she screamed plus various other phrases.

However, shortly the room filled with the sounds of a baby's crying. "We have a healthy baby girl here," the doctor exclaimed and Mark kissed Meredith's forehead.

Mark walked into the waiting room, seeing that various Seattle Grace employees had gathered to see the new Sloan baby. Asher ran over and Mark crouched down so that he could see his sister. "Hey buddy, this is your sister Quinn," he told him.

Asher looked at her for a minute before he bent down placing a gentle kiss on her nose. "Hi baby, I wuv you," he said to her.

Mark kissed him on his forehead and stood up as Derek and Mama Shepherd approached. "Oh my, is this my new grand-daughter," she said.

"Yes mom, this is Quinn Carolyn Sloan, 8 lbs 2 oz," he said beaming.

After showing her off for a little while Mark walked back to his wife with his little girl in his arms.


	9. 1 year

**1 year.**

Meredith rolled over and ran her hand over the spot where Mark usually lay. When she felt only bed sheets she groaned and started to get up. At three months old, Quinn was sleeping through the night much of the time, but she was surprised she hadn't heard her and Mark had. As she swung her feet to the ground she heard Mark's voice on the baby monitor. "Shhh princess, I've got you, you're okay," he cooed, "you know the day your mommy left was the scariest day of my life, I was so angry at that stupid woman for breaking up our marriage, but now that I have her back I am going to fight to keep it this way, no one is going to do that to us again, I will always be here for you princess, and for mommy and for your brother."

Meredith stood up and walked to the nursery. When she got to it she leaned against the doorframe and took in the sight before her. Mark paced the floor, Quinn was lying tight against his chest and his head was down as he whispered into her hair. Meredith moved forward striding over to her husband and wrapping her arms around him from behind. She laid her head against his back and he leant into her.

"You know what, I think I finally believe you, I don't think you would have risked our marriage to be with Jaime, I'm sorry I left," she whispered.

"He walked away from her and placed Quinn in her crib before walking back to his wife. He pulled her into his chest and kissed her passionately. When they broke apart, he whispered into her ear "no, I am sorry I ever gave you a reason to doubt me."

They stood there wrapped in each others arms for a while before Mark silently led them back to the bedroom to go back to sleep.


End file.
